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The Rider

(2017)

Fact and fiction collide as director Chloé Zhao (Songs My Brothers Taught Me) tells the story of a young cowboy's search for a new identity after a near-fatal accident - a fictionalised account, starring the real-life rider and his family. ... More

"In 2015, director Chloé Zhao met a 20-year-old cowboy named Brady Jandreau, a member of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, and decided to make a film about him. A year later, Brady’s skull was crushed during a rodeo competition and he was very nearly killed. His doctors warn him that to ride again would jeopardise his life, but Brady is determined to return to what he was born to do. Zhao carefully considered the physical and psychological impacts on the young man, and then cast him, his family and friends as versions of themselves in a film that meticulously details Brady’s fight to regain control of his fate. The challenges facing the American cowboy, a staple of so many films, seldom receive so complex an appreciation as in Zhao’s stunning study." (Sydney Film Festival)Hide

Filmmaker Chloé Zhao turns the story of real-life bronc rider Brady Jandreau into a gritty, graceful character study. Once The Rider hooks you - and believe me, it will - there's no way you will ever forget it.Full Review